Upon Further Review: Where's the white smoke?
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Where’s the white smoke?
After Tennessee’s latest loss — the nadir of the Butch Jones era, arguably — most everyone is waiting for word from John Currie’s post-mortem program conclave.
It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s coming.
With a 8-4 finish now off the table, Currie is officially on the clock. He knows it, too, but in light of the news down in Gainesville on Sunday, the silence from Tennessee’s athletic department Sunday has been deafening.
Replacing Jones & Co., will be expensive, but another week (or more) of when not if will be much costlier for the program.
Jones stabilized Tennessee through a period of rough waters, but the Vols are mired in mediocrity now, and a program that expects to compete for championships may miss a bowl game for the second time in five years.
The time has come.
THE STARTING 11
A skinny dozen of quick-hitters and final thoughts…
Since most Tennessee fans are mainly interested in Jones’ future, I’m going to eschew my normal deep dive and offer a quick-hitting Starting 11: Clint Eastwood Style.
THE GOOD
1. Damn, Ty.
No John Kelly, no problem. The freshman tailback had 118 rushing yards on the season before Saturday. Against Kentucky, he tallied 120 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. He also had a 75-yard run negated by a holding penalty on senior Josh Smith. In the Bluegrass State, Chandler flashed his blue-chip talent and the former 4-star recruit certainly earned more touches over the final month of the season.
2. Carlin Fils-aime gave Chandler some nice company in the backfield, too. The sophomore hadn’t played in a couple weeks but earned the start and finished with 74 yards on 13 rushes. As a team, Tennessee rushed for a season-high 203 yards Saturday.
3. Tennessee’s defense swarmed to the football and delivered several crushing hits, forcing four fumbles on the game (2 by Kendal Vickers, 1 each by Rashaan Gaulden and Nigel Warrior).
4. Jarrett Guarantano had 13 completions for more than 10 yards Saturday night. The redshirt freshman found some success against UK’s soft zone, firing several strikes to tight end Ethan Wolf and wideout Brandon Johnson.
THE BAD
5. The flipside of Guarantano’s game was his decision-making — or lack there of. The inexperienced quarterback remains too indecisive in the pocket. The Vols allowed seven sacks Saturday, but at least four sacks were Guarantano’s fault for holding the football too long or not reading the coverage pre-snap.
At times, Tennessee's shaky OL makes Guarantano look like Frogger out there trying to avoid traffic running for his life, but several big sacks (especially on 3rd downs) were the quarterback's own doing.
Here's a cut-up of all 7 sacks from Saturday.
6. Tennessee was 6-for-6 in the red zone, but the numbers are deceiving. The Vols scored just 9 points off four turnovers and had to settle for four field goals inside the 20-yard line.
7. The bogus Oprah giveaway penalty ruling certainly cost Tennessee dearly, as both Daniel Bituli and Rashaan Gaulden were eventually kicked out of the game. I’ve never seen that called before (neither had anyone else I talked to) and the SEC should make sure blanket penalties like that don’t happen again.
On the TV call, Jordan Rodgers was prophetic after the ruling though, saying it could come back to hurt the Vols because “they’ve struggled with mental focus … discipline.” And sure enough.
THE UGLY
8. Tennessee was penalized 9 times for 54 yards, but nearly every flag was particularly costly.
* Justin Martin’s PI on 3rd down extended UK’s first scoring drive
* Josh Smih’s hold wiped out Ty Chandler’s 75-yard run
* Coleman Thomas’ false start on the 1-yard line
* Tim Jordan’s block in the back on the KR forced a drive to start inside the 10-yard line
* Brett Kendrick’s illegal formation (he just lined up too deep) took away a nice 22-yard pitch and catch on 3rd down to Ethan Wolf
* Bituli and Gaulden get ejected
* Drew Richmond had a pair of false starts
9. Tennessee missed Bituli in the run game (UK averaged 8.0 yards per carry for 289 yards) but the Vols’ front-seven was bad Saturday night. They couldn’t get off blocks, maintain gap control or seal the edge.
It was a calamity of errors. Tennessee’s linebackers (from Bituli to Colton Jumper to Quart’e Sapp and Elliott Berry) had a really rough afternoon. The unit combined for eight tackles.
10. Drew Richmond. Not an SEC left tackle.
11. And finally, Tennessee out-gained UK by 75 yards, had 10 more first downs, a nearly 17-minute advantage in time of possession and a +4 turnover margin … and still lost.
The Vols’ Fail-Mary came up three yards short — a symbolic finish for Jones’ tenure?
We’ll find out soon I think.